


Sleep

by HJLewis



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-13
Updated: 2014-11-13
Packaged: 2018-02-25 06:10:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,682
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2611271
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HJLewis/pseuds/HJLewis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set just after the discovery that Ward is HYDRA.<br/>Jemma and Skye share a conversation about who they are now and what they stand for, while finding comfort in each other.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sleep

            Disappointment, betrayal, heartache. These were not foreign emotions to Skye; in fact, she was intimately familiar with all of them. The foster system had hardened her with these methods, taught her to keep her head down, put on a mask of indifference, and move on. She was a fighter, a survivor; she always had been; she always would be.

            In the comfort and routine of her life with S.H.I.E.L.D., Skye had naively thought that perhaps that chapter of her life was a closed one. She was moving up, forming connections, learning to trust and rely on people other than herself. That trust was a warped memory now.

            Only the sound of a hesitant knock on the doorframe of her room in the Providence safe house pulled Skye from her dark and desolate thoughts. She blinked to clear her mind and lifted her head to the sound of the noise. She had expected to find a concerned Coulson, instead she saw a sheepish-looking Simmons.

            "Hello, Skye," said the biochemist tentatively. "May I come in for a moment?"

            Skye sighed. "It's a free country," she responded, although under her breath she added, "For now."

            Simmons came in and sat next to Skye on the edge of the other woman's temporary bed. Both of their bodies were stiff, their arms going straight down and their hands gripping the edge of the mattress on either side of them. They were almost shoulder-to-shoulder, their respective hands nearly touching.

            Then Simmons slid her right hand over just a few centimeters and set her pinky finger across Skye's. The hacker turned her hand over so that Simmons could take it and hold it. The simple gesture felt comforting in the face of all that had gone wrong.

            "You don't have to talk to me," Simmons began slowly. "I know that you probably don't want to talk about it right now, but I'd like for you to listen." She paused, as if awaiting Skye's refusal, but Skye simply remained quiet and ran her thumb over the back of Jemma's hand, so she continued. "Whatever you are thinking or feeling right now, Skye, you are not alone. We're all shocked and reeling from the revelations of the past few days. None of us suspected Ward of 'hailing HYDRA'."

            "I trusted him," Skye said suddenly, surprising Jemma with her responsiveness. "I cared about him, and I believed that he cared about me – about _all_ of us. And I am so angry, Simmons, because I thought this team was the closest thing I've ever had to a family, and it turned out to be a front."

            "No, it wasn't, Skye," Jemma assured her, lifting their hands and setting them in her lap. She angled herself more toward Skye, and lifted her free hand to stroke Skye's cheek. The caring caress caused Skye's tears to slip from her eyes and down her cheeks. "We are still a family. _Your_ family. Do not let Ward or Garrett or HYDRA or anything else take that away from you. Do not surrender your happiness to them, Skye. They are not worth it.

            "In the time I have known you, Skye," Simmons went on, her thumb tracing soothing circles on the girl's cheek now, "you have _never_ surrendered to anyone or anything. That's something I greatly admire about you. You always stand and fight for what you believe in, you're very brave. Don't stop now."

            Skye looked sideways to the doe-eyed biochemist and she felt a pull in her soul. "I'm not brave, Jemma. I don't feel very brave at all."

            Simmons wasn't sure what to say to that. She knew better than most that when Skye got something in her head, it was hard to convince her otherwise. It was even harder if she _felt_ something. Arguing with Skye that she was brave would be pointless.

            Instead of arguing with the girl, Simmons found herself studying her.

            Impossible as it was, scientifically speaking, Jemma noticed that Skye looked significantly older than she had three days ago; it seemed as though Skye had lived a thousand grueling lifetimes in those three days, and now the proof of those grueling lifetimes was evident in her eyes and face and posture. Skye had always been the team's proverbial light in the darkness; she was the first one to make a joke when things looked grim, the first to break a tense silence with a witty remark or sarcastic comment, and the first to offer her own awkward version of support to whoever needed it when things looked bleak.

            Now, the girl's brow, which showed wrinkles from the permanent look of consternation her face had taken on, was accompanied by the hard frown that seemed to be her new default expression. Her shoulders were slumped, not carelessly as they usually were, but as if under the strain of a great weight. Her eyes were those of a haunted and desolate woman, no longer reflecting the glimmer of life, hope, humor, and determination that Jemma had come to associate with Skye.

            Simmons thumb traced over the dark circles under her friend's deep brown eyes. "You've dark circles under your eyes," she noted obviously. Her gaze shifted to meet Skye's stare, "You haven't been sleeping well?"

            "I haven't been sleeping at all," Skye replied, subconsciously leaning into Simmons's hand to savor the comfort. "My brain just won't shut off."

            "Ah," Jemma said. "Well, that is something I am actually quite familiar with."

            Skye's shoulders slumped further in defeat. "All my life I've been a good judge of character, Jemma. I got good at it, being bounced around in the system with all those different families and homes." The way that Skye was meeting Jemma's eyes, with such intensity and vulnerability that the biochemist had never seen in her friend before, made Jemma acutely aware of how significant this was for Skye. "I trusted Ward. I admired him and I looked up to him. I thought he was one of the good guys. Jemma, if I was wrong about him, what else have I been wrong about?"

            Simmons considered that for a moment, and then slowly returned, "Skye, do you think I'm unintelligent for not knowing Ward was working for HYDRA?"

            "Of course not!" Skye insisted, as if the very thought of being accused of this offended her. "Simmons, you're one of the smartest people I've ever met. And the other one of those 'people' is Fitz."

            "Well, if that's the case, then why are you so ready to begin doubting yourself?" Simmons challenged her. She let the question sink into Skye's brain for a moment before going on, "We all trusted Ward. We are all guilty of the same oversight, Skye. That doesn't mean that you should question every judgment call that you've ever made– _I_ don't."

            Skye looked up at Simmons and saw the sincerity in her deep hazel eyes. Simmons continued, " _I_ trust your judgment, Skye. The world is falling apart around us; people we've trusted, people we've called our friends, have betrayed us for a terrible purpose," – Jemma held Skye's face with gentle but firm hands and an intense look in her eyes – "but still, I trust you."

            "I trust you too, Jemma," Skye said, and she realized with a sudden blinding clarity that she really did. She trusted Jemma Simmons implicitly, because despite their differences, – and there were _plenty_ of differences between the two of them – they shared an understanding and a connection that transcended commonalities and status quos. They couldn't be more different, and yet they were so much alike.

            "You know what I think?" Skye prompted.

            Simmons got an uneasy look on her face, the kind that came with knowing that Skye was plotting another one of her bad girl shenanigans. "Do I _want_ to know?" she questioned.

            Skye smiled. "I think that we're not done. S.H.I.E.L.D., I mean. We've still got a purpose here. Why should we give up now when the world needs us the most?" she said. Skye stood up and Jemma followed her bewilderedly. "HYDRA wants a war? Let's give them one. We beat them once before, and we can do it again."

            Simmons smiled proudly, until Skye took a step toward the door and stumbled. The biochemist was quick to catch her and guide her back to her seat on the bed. She looked at Skye's face again, and shook her head.

            "We will, Skye. We will battle HYDRA and we will win, but right now, you're exhausted. You're going to need sleep to fight a war," Simmons told her, laying her palm against Skye's face and cupping her cheek again. "So rest now. Believe me, HYDRA isn't going anywhere just yet." Simmons stood to leave Skye to sleep, but she felt a dainty yet surprisingly strong hand wrap around her wrist, causing her to look back.

            Skye met her eyes with a desperate plea. "Don't leave me," she said. "Stay. _Please_. You make me feel calmer. Maybe the nightmares won't take over if you're here. Please, Jemma?"

            It was the rare use of her first name combined with the desperate and terrified look on Skye's face that convinced Jemma to heed to the girl's request. She nodded her agreement and the smile that came over Skye's face was entirely worth it. The hacker slid over and patted the spot next to her for Jemma to rest on. The scientist complied, too tired to object or argue, and laid down next to Skye, both of them shoulder-to-shoulder on their backs.

            Just as Simmons was beginning to think that Skye had fallen asleep, she felt a hand entwine fingers with hers and a head relax onto her shoulder. Despite not typically being one for physical contact, Simmons found herself relaxing into the warmth of Skye's body as well. She thought that this must be what peace felt like.

. . .

            Skye didn't have nightmares that night, and when she woke in the morning, she found herself wrapped up in the comforting arms of Jemma Simmons.


End file.
